Miller plans to seek 11th term -- maybe more

Michael Dresser, The Baltimore Sun

In case there was any doubt whatsoever, Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller isn't planning to go anytime soon.

Miller, the nation's longest-serving Senate president, said in an interview Wednesday that he will seek re-election in 2014 to what would be his 11th term in that chamber. He said his wife has given him the green light to run again.

"I think she would just as soon I was down here instead of bothering her," said Miller, a Calvert County Democrat who also represents part of Prince George's County.

The Senate president said he has been raising money toward re-election and would not want to let down his contributors.

Miller, who recently turned 70, flirted with the idea of retirement after four years of struggles with Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. Shortly after Ehrlich was defeated by Democrat Martin O'Malley in 2006, Miller said he would hang it up after one more four-year term.

By 2008, Miller had backed off his retirement plans, which had been met with considerable skepticism in Annapolis because the Senate president so clearly relishes his job. Now he's setting no sunset date on his long tenure.

The Senate president said he hopes to stay around at least until the Chesapeake Bay is cleaned up and Maryland's K-12 and higher education systems are the best they can be -- goals that could keep him around a long time.

Miller still has a long way to go to match the tenure of Sen. Norman Stone, a Baltimore County Democrat who will end his current term with 52 years in the Senate after the 2014 election.